News

Arlington, VA – The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), the trucking industry’s not-for-profit research organization, today launched the 2013 Top Industry Issues Survey. The annual survey, commissioned by the American Trucking Associations (ATA), asks trucking industry stakeholders to rank the top issues of concern for the industry along with appropriate strategies for addressing each issue. The survey is in its 9th year and participation by trucking stakeholders has grown each year.

“In complex times like this it is critical that we do our part to help ensure a thriving future for the trucking industry,” said ATA Chairman Mike Card, President, Combined Transport, Inc. “With your participation, we can speak with a collective industry voice on what’s most important to us.” The results of the 2013 survey will be released at the ATA Annual Management Conference and Exhibition, to be held October 19-22, 2013 in Orlando.

On August 2, 2013, the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit announced their ruling on challenges to the new Hours of Service rules that went into effect on July 1, 2013.

The court was responding to challenges brought forth by the American Trucking Associations (ATA) and Public Citizen. The court combined the two challenges and issued a single ruling for both.

The Court ultimately denied both challenges, with one exception – the ruling vacates the 30-minute rest break requirement for short haul truck drivers.

“We conclude that what remains of the 2003 Final Rule after two remands and three rulemakings are highly technical points best left to the agency. We therefore generally affirm the rule and vacate only the agency’s application of the 30-minute break to short-haul drivers.”

At this time it is unclear if further legal maneuvers or appeals will be taken to continue to challenge the HOS rule. CTA is monitoring the developments with these challenges and will provide guidance on the final outcome once it becomes available.

A federal court will hear arguments in September on whether the federal government followed the law in implementing and publicizing the new Compliance, Safety, Accountability program for trucking and bus company safety rankings.

Eva Gray, a truck driver with Melton Truck Lines, gets into her truck in Tulsa. A spokeswoman said the company would hire anyone who is qualified to fill the demand for drivers. STEPHEN PINGRY/Tulsa World

Eva Gray isn’t what you might expect out of a long-haul trucker.

The 29-year-old Maryland native has a petite frame, red hair and a big smile. She spends her nights and weekends taking online classes and is just a year away from getting a master’s degree in psychology.

“I was just bored with what I was doing, and driving is something that always appealed to me. So I just went for it,” said Gray, who had just finished a trip hauling lumber from New Hampshire to Springfield, Mo.

“It’s the experience of a lifetime. You get to see so many things every day that you would never get to see.”

Her truck is loaded with the newest high-tech gadgets in the industry, like a GPS device to show her the shortest routes to destinations and electronic logs to show her how much time until her next required rest.

Gray is one of more than 900 drivers at Tulsa-based Melton Truck Lines Inc. The company would hire a hundred more if qualified drivers walked in the door, said Angie Buchanan, vice president of human resources and safety.

“We have 70 openings right now, but we would hire anyone that is qualified,” Buchanan said. “There is as much work out there as we can take.”

The entire trucking industry is facing a shortage of drivers as the economy rebounds, the energy industry demands more trucks and the baby boom generation, which makes up the largest pool of drivers, is aging out and getting off the roads.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the U.S. will need 330,000 more truck drivers by 2020. With the average trucker being 55 years old, the industry will face a shortage in the next decade from retirements.

WASHINGTON — The Congressional Budget Office last week presented a grim picture of an insolvent Highway Trust Fund to the House committee that oversees highway policy, but there was little discussion of possible solutions.

In 2015, there will be an estimated $50 billion in outlays for highways and transit — if spending levels stay the same as today — but only $40 billion in receipts, said Kim Cawley, a chief official at the Congressional Budget Office. “Without some change in policy, there won’t be enough money to go around.”

Medical professionals and state driver licensing agencies objected to a proposal to require daily updates of commercial drivers’ physical exam information, telling federal regulators the system would be burdensome and costly.

The comments came in response to a May proposal from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration that would require medical examiners to submit the results of their physicals on drivers at the end of each day. FMCSA would forward that data to states’ licensing agencies the next day, and the states would have to post it to a database the day after that.

WASHINGTON — A congressional subcommittee received a grim picture Tuesday of what lies ahead for the Highway Trust Fund if Congress and the White House do not find a way to pay for transportation before the fund is declared insolvent in 2015.

That year, there will be about $50 billion in outlays — if spending levels are the same as 2013 — but only $40 billion in receipts, Kim Cawley of the Congressional Budget Office said at a hearing of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s highways subcommittee.